Steven Donaghy, of Vancouver, B.C., writes: "We really need a new word to replace the awkward 'and/or' conjoined conjunction. It seems that we're missing a whole world of possibilities because the 'and/or' beast is ungraceful to use. The new word could be something like 'anor' or 'pho.' 'This new policy will affect all home and/or office computer users' would become 'This new policy will affect all home anor office computer users.'"

I'm with Steven that "and/or" is awkward and inelegant, and I can't say I'm a huge fan. But I can live with it when it's properly used. More and more, though, people use it when either "and" OR "or" would be the appropriate word.

To me, "and/or" connotes a certain ambiguity. Steven's example "This new policy will affect all home and/or office computer users" suggests the real implication of the policy isn't known. It may affect home computer users and office computer users OR it may affect only one -- and which one isn't known. If the policy will affect both (suggested by the modifier "all"), "and" should be used.

I've noticed when editing others' writing that most authors generally mean one or the other, but use "and/or" because everyone else does. I don't think we need a new word, just less of this imprecise and clumsy phrase.